


i'll stop the world

by Anonymous



Series: Felannie Week 2020 [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fantastical Felannie Week, Fantasy Felannie Week, Felannie Week (Fire Emblem), Reincarnation, lots of AUs, no beta we die like Glenn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23627167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It seemed as if the universe was trying to make up for giving them a bad ending the first time around.Written for Fantastical Felannie Week Day 6 Prompt: Intertwined Destinies
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Series: Felannie Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698208
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54
Collections: Anonymous, FantasyFelannieWeek2020





	i'll stop the world

**Author's Note:**

> my last contribution for this year's felannie week it's been a blast everyone uwu hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> title taken from the song i melt with you by modern english

At war's end, he dies in her arms.

Annette cradles his head gently in her lap, tears streaming down her face. Through the last of the explosions, he can hear their allies shout in triumph at the sight of Dimitri and Byleth standing over Edelgard's lifeless body.

The emperor was gone to the world now. The evil had been defeated.

He was never one for celebrations, but he would have liked to attend the victory party he knows they'll have.

Annette sniffles from above him. Even the sight of her crying so messily and covered in blood does nothing to blind him of her beauty.

(Sylvain had turned him into such a sap.)

Felix coughs out blood before managing a shaky smirk. "I-I never thought winning could make you cry so much." He barely manages to get the words out of his mouth. 

The girl glares at him through her tears. (She never did like his taunts.) "S-Shut up, Felix. You shouldn't talk right now. M-Mercie will be here-"

"We both know I'm not going to make it." 

The truth is often harsh. They've all learned this. If war wasn't enough to teach them that then something else along the way surely would.

Unluckily, he wouldn't get that chance.

Annette chokes back a sob. "You don't know that," she whispers, but he shakes his head in response.

He does.

Although it pains him greatly, Felix shifts in her lap to look her straight in the eyes one last time. 

"S-Sing for me. Please, Annette?" His last request escapes his lips. 

Nothing would would make him happier than to pass with her voice being the last thing on his mind.

She sucks in a harsh breath, head bowing down in despair. "You- I can't believe-" She breaks off into another sob.

Felix clutches her hand as tightly as he can.

"T-This is so unfair. You said- You promised- Felix, I-" Annette hiccuped.

"I know." He shuts his eyes in pain. "I know."

Yes, life was unfair. Yes, he did promise her that they'd both live through this. And, yes.

He knew how she felt about him.

(In a way, he supposes he's always known.)

He gives her a meaningful look. He hopes she can feel all the love he puts into it. All the passion and emotion he felt for her. This was all they could have now. And it wouldn't last long.

It's one last look he hopes can communicate all the things he never said.

She finally manages to give him a watery smile. "A-Any requests?"

She's accepted his fate.

He grins one last time. "Any will do."

Annette kisses his forehead before she begins singing brokenly, anguished and rueful. Even so, her voice is still the most beautiful thing he's ever heard.

He dies before he hears her song dissolve into heartbroken sobs.

(Maybe, they'll get it right next time.)

* * *

Prince Felix Hugo Fraldarius stares at the burning tower before him as several dragons circle it threateningly. 

" _That's_ the tower?"

He hears fellow Prince Sylvain unfold their map loudly before gracing him with a reply. "Pretty sure. Ingrid circled it using red ink a bunch of times." Felix groans.

Their friend just _had_ to save a princess from _this_ mess of a tower, didn't she? He massages his temples.

Ingrid always did love a challenge.

(Just a month ago, she had fought a sizable horde of monsters with nothing but a knife. Alone. In the middle of a cursed forest. During a thunderstorm.

Their friend scared him sometimes.)

Sylvain looks up at the tower, optimistic. "How do you suppose we'll distract them?"

As if on cue, the dragons release fire balls into the sky.

"Bait," Felix responds, offering no further explanation. That had always been his plan. 

He gets off his horse and walks closer to assess the structure, his ginger-haired companion doing the same. It's going to topple soon, he thinks. They didn't have much time. And there are three dragons. Should be easy enough to deal with once they freed Ingrid.

He unsheathes his sword before looking at Sylvain expectantly. The man follows suit, but is puzzled to meet the irritated glare his friend sends him. "What?"

Felix looks at him. Then at the dragons. Then at Sylvain again.

The taller man stiffened before eventually sagging, resigned. 

"Ingrid owes me for this."

One Sylvain-shaped distraction later (Felix could hear his screams as the dragons chased him around the area wll the way from the tower's uppermost floor. Felix was sure he'd be fine.) and Felix is kicking open the door of the tower's first and only room. (Horrible design, he had thought as he trudged up the steps.)

He meets Ingrid's emerald eyes and is promptly tackled into a hug before any words can be exchanged. It's a little awkward what with the heavy armor and all, but his friend didn't seem to mind.

"I knew you'd come eventually," she says when she pulls away. He offers her a smirk. As sour as his mood was right now, he couldn't deny feeling relieved to see her alive and well. 

"I'm surprised you couldn't handle this yourself," he taunts her. Ingrid shrugs.

"One of the dragons ate my sword. I was willing to fight it unarmed, but I didn't think it would end well for me."

"Figures. Let's go. Sylvain's going to need some help."

"Aw, we can't have him running a little longer? Annette and I were enjoying the spectacle."

Felix freezes.

Why did that name send shivers down his spine?

He looks pass the blonde to acknowledge their company for the first time.

'Annette' smiles sheepishly and gives him a little wave. "Hi there. Thanks for saving us." 

She is petite and very... _soft_ -looking, if that made any sense. (Felix didn't understand it himself.) Her long orange locks cascaded down until a little below her shoulders. Her dress was clumsily cut at the knees and the prince has got to hand it to her. She looked more put together than anyone would've expected a princess trapped in a tower for years would look. Not a bruise in sight.

But why did she look so achingly familiar?

Ingrid jostles between them.

"Where are my manners? Princess Annette, this is my childhood friend, Prince Felix Hugo Fraldarius," she introduces him formally. He sees Annette's eyes widen at the mention of his name.

(Did she feel it too?)

"Felix meet Princess Annette Fantine Dominic."

x

_"My name is Annette Fantine Dominic! It's a pleasure to be part of the Blue Li-"_

_"Save your breath. I only asked for your name. I'm Felix."_

x

He nods at her unsurely. Annette actually curtseys and he can see her regret it as soon as she does. She hastily fixes her posture, face red. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Prince Fraldarius."

"Felix is fine," he says gruffly.

He sees her test out his name on her tongue, softly mouthing the word. "Felix it is then."

Felix is bothered by how _right_ his name sounds in her voice.

They stare at each other for what seems like a millennia before Ingrid claps her hands. "Now that we're all properly introduced, I think it's about time we took our leave," she makes for the door, "Sylvain's suffered enough."

The resounding shriek of terror from outside supported this.

Later, once dragons are slain and towers have collapsed, he helps Annette up his horse. She's lighter than she looks and surprisingly graceful as she mounts his steed, only needing minimal assistance.

He tunes out Sylvain and Ingrid's bickering as they fought over who rode front on Sylvain's horse, focused only on the girl who refuses to meet his eyes.

Why couldn't she look at him?

She squeaks as he gets on in front of her. The proximity is something that affects them both. Eventually, they ride off into the sunset and it really should feel a lot more triumphant, but the sensation of Princess Annette holding onto his waist tightly distracted him too much.

He makes a promise with himself to get to know her better as soon as their feet touch the ground once more.

(It only felt right.)

* * *

The force of her voice blows back all the thugs through the drywall. 

Songbird grins as she hears the chorus of groans that echo through the abandoned warehouse before the inevitable silence. From a considerable distance, she can hear sirens approach. Her smile widens.

Right on time.

She grabs some ropes before approaching the dazed goons and quickly beginning to tie them together.

"Annie!" a voice chirps happily in her ear. "Great job! The authorities are on their way."

"Thanks, M! I hear them," the hero responds in kind.

She can't help but giggle at the fact Mercie had called her by her real name (well, nickname) on the comm. Despite being the one enforcing the "code names only" policy, the woman had the habit of breaking it a lot.

Mercedes hums, unaware of her slip-up. "That was easier than we thought it would be."

Annette couldn't disagree.

There were significantly less baddies than they had initially estimated. Instead of being confronted by hordes of goons, Songbird had only needed to deal with eight guarding the stolen money. Two shouts and they were down for the count.

It almost bothered Annette how easy it was.

She makes a sound of agreement before finishing up the knots binding the thugs together. One of them tries to grab at her mask weakly, but she conks his head and he's knocked out again.

Annette stares at her handiwork, satisfied. She contemplates something for a few seconds before deciding to put in the extra effort of hauling the bags of money from the corner and into the light. She huffs triumphantly. It would be impossible to miss them.

All that was left was to make a clean getaway.

"I'm gonna leave now, M," she says to her earpiece. Mercedes kills the connection after she wishes her good luck. She's about to run through the door before she suddenly feels another presence behind her.

Oh, God. Please don't be-

"Not even gonna thank me, bird?"

Annette feels a headache coming on. She groans before turning around.

"Blade," she acknowledges the other hero.

Blade grunts, arms crossed as he slowly walked from a dark corner of the area and into the light. She hates how she finds him attractive. Him with his stupid face and stupid jumpsuit. "What are you doing here?" 

"I was going to ask you that. I was in the middle of picking these idiots off one-by-one and you barge in screaming as usual, taking care of the last bunch," he drawls, tapping one of the thug's heads. "Looks like we both made our jobs a little easier."

So there _were_ more of them. He had just gotten here first. Typical.

"Then aren't you supposed to be the thanking me? I finished up for you."

Blade scoffs. "I would've been fine." She rolls her eyes. 

"Sure," she says dismissively, walking towards the doors. "Anyways, I'm leaving. You should too, the police will be here soon."

"Thanks for the heads-up. I didn't quite hear the sirens." Annette glares. Sarcastic as usual. Blade side-eyes her before continuing. "Well? What are you waiting for? Leave." The command is cold and uncaring.

What?

"You're staying?" She asks him incredulously.

He shrugs. "Someone has to take credit."

Annette feels her blood boil. "And that someone is _you_?" The audacity this guy had!

He nods. "You have a problem with that? I got here first. I took down more minions than you-"

She clenches her fists. "You claim that, but I haven't actually seen-"

Blade points up.

Oh, there they are.

Several unconscious men are taped to the ceiling ( _wow,_ that was some strong adhesive), around 20 by the looks of it, just dozing off on abandoned warehouse ceiling. She spies small darts embedded in their necks.

She looks back down only to meet his smug grin. 

God, how she hated him.

"I still beat up eight of them," she argued.

"Yes, a number significantly bigger than 24." She scowls.

"I also secured the money bags," she added.

"All you did was _push them into the light_. How does that help?"

"This way the cops can find them more easily!" Ugh, she was losing her temper. The urge to scream at him and blow him through the wall increased with each passing second. "This is so like you!"

Blade has the grace to look confused. "What."

She struggles for the words. "I mean- this- this is so typical of you!"

The man looks at her, face blank. "You're going to have to be more specific, bird."

Annette feels her patience run out.

She glares at him nastily. "You're evil! Swooping in to take credit for yourself! Why didn't you say anything when I got here? We could've worked together properly! We wouldn't even be having this fight if you had just said something!" 

_x_

_"You're evil, Felix!"_

_"And you're shouting."_

_"You can't just spy on people while they're singing without even saying anything! It's not right!"_

_**"** I actually did call out that I was coming in. It's not my fault you didn't hear."_

_x_

She doesn't know why she's so mad. He's never riled her up this much in the past. They've argued before, but never like this. It felt eerily familiar. 

In a way that _hurt_.

"Songbir-" Annette hopes that's guilt she hears in his voice as she stalks past him.

"Take your stupid credit, I'm leaving." 

She gets on her motorcycle and drives away, not looking back once. The police sirens cover up the sound of her leaving.

The next day, she's on the headline of every newspaper.

Not just her though. Her and _Blade._ (Much to Mercedes' amusement.) Several articles are serious reports on what had happened last night, but others take a more conspiratorial and outrageous edge.

Normally, she enjoyed laughing and poking fun at these types of articles, but one headline in particular makes her chest ache although she doesn't understand why.

'Songbird and Blade: Crimefighting Couple?!'

* * *

"Congratulations on 250,000 subs, Felix!" Sylvain pulled on the party popper enthusiastically, Ingrid and Dimitri following. The rest of their friends cheer around him.

Felix is covered in small bits of confetti when the dust settles. 

"Hooray," he drawls sarcastically. Annette giggles and he can't help the light blush that settles on his cheeks because of it.

Sylvain whooped. "Who knew your weird-ass channel would blow up?" Ingrid hits him over the head, causing the ginger-haired man to whimper and clutch at it dramatically.

Amidst their friends' laughter, Felix feels mildly offended. 

His fencing videos getting popular was certainly unexpected, but that didn't mean they didn't deserve the recognition they got. He _had_ worked hard on them.

"What do you have planned for you celebration video?" Mercedes asks conversationally.

Felix groaned. "Do I have to do one?"

Sylvain gasps dramatically. (Why was he friends with him again?) He throws a hand over the shorter man's shoulders. "Course you do, Fel! It's a love letter to your loyal, adoring subscribers for all their support!"

The shorter man looks at him blankly.

Dedue stares at Sylvain, unimpressed. Felix is glad he isn't the only one. "Sylvain, isn't your 250,000 subscriber special the most disliked video on your channel?"

This incites another round of laughter and even Felix can't help but smile.

"Rightfully so," Ingrid says indignant, "it was a horrible video."

Sylvain looks at her, betrayed. "It wasn't that bad!"

"It was insulting to women." The blonde stared at him accusingly.

"It really was." Annette nods along.

"I'm surprised it wasn't taken down," Mercedes remarks, a placid smile on her face.

The conversation is dropped and Sylvain wallows for the rest of the night.

The party is small and it's late, so it only drags on for about two more hours before it begins to die down and people start leaving.

Dimitri and Dedue are the first to say their farewells, an early morning awaiting them. (Byleth was flying in tomorrow.) The boar hugged Felix tightly as he congratulated him once more. Felix hugged him back awkwardly under Dedue's scrutinizing stare. A lesser man would have been intimidated, but he finds that he's grown somewhat immune to the effect Dedue had on people.

Ashe left next, stating a brunch meeting with Caspar as his excuse. Unsurprisingly, he wraps Felix in a hug of his own before he exits the apartment. He and Ashe weren't particularly close, but they were comfortable enough to share a hug these days.

("Ingrid, Fel is making friends besides us!" Sylvain had cheered happily when he and Ashe had first been introduced. Felix didn't talk to him for three days.)

After a while, Ingrid stands up from her seat and proceeds to carry an unconscious Sylvain to Felix's guest room. The man had passed out uncomfortably on the floor a few minutes earlier. (The damn fool couldn't hold his alcohol.) Ever the gracious host, Felix trails behind Ingrid. He would've offered to help had she not hoisted Sylvain up bridal-style. She had just looked at him to lead the way, like their friend's weight was nothing.

God was she freakishly strong.

He leaves the blonde to fuss over the ginger-haired man once he sees her unceremoniously plop him onto the bed. (Sylvain groans.) Felix returns to his living room to the sight of Mercedes sleeping on his couch. He looks at Annette questioningly.

Mercedes didn't get drunk. She was the friend who took care of those who did.

Annette puts a finger to her lips and leads him to the kitchen by the wrist.

"Mercie worked a late shift at the hospital last night. She was dead tired by the time she got home this morning, but she still insisted on coming," she says once they are in the safe quiet of the other room.

A sliver of guilt makes it's way to Felix chest.

"She didn't have to co-" Annette cuts him off with a snort.

"She wouldn't have missed it for the world, Felix. You know her."

Felix is glad to say that he does.

"It's a milestone, you know, 250,000!" Annette continues, eyes twinkling under the dim kitchen lights. "That's big."

He allows himself a half-smile.

"I didn't see you put up much of a fuss when you hit 250,000," he counters. Unbeknownst to him, Annette stiffens at the words. "You didn't even make a video."

Felix would never admit it, but the week after the girl had hit the milestone, he refreshed her channel at every given chance. Waiting to see if she had posted anything to celebrate the achievement like she did when she hit 100,000.

Annette's covers were amazing. Felix had subscribed to her since day 1, back when Mercedes had just jokingly created Annette's account. That's right, she hadn't even posted a video when Felix had started subscribed, that's how... "whipped" he was for her singing. (Sylvain's words not his.)

She murmurs something under her breath. Felix raises an eyebrow. "What was that?"

Annette's cheeks are red when she meets his eyes. "I said I _did_ have something planned. I just... it ended up being too embarrassing to post. As you probably know..."

Wait, what.

Felix did, in fact, not know what the hell she was talking about.

"What." His voice is flat. Annette pouts.

"Don't play dumb!"

"Annette, I have no idea what you're talking about." 

She reddens further. (It's a cute look on her, a traitorous part of Felix's mind points out.) "That time in the garden! Back in college!" _College?_

He vaguely recalls that that was around the time Annette had hit 250,000, but what else-

This time, Felix feels himself redden. 

That was the first time he had ever heard her sing.

"What about it?" He keeps his tone neutral, careful not to give anything away.

"You heard me singing those songs!" She points a finger at him accusingly. Felix is effectively stumped.

Why did it matte-

The pieces fall into place.

" _Those_ where the songs you were going to sing? To celebrate 250,00?" Felix is incredulous. She couldn't be serious. 

Her voice turns defensive when she utters her next words. "And that's why I never posted the video! You have the same look on your face like you did before! It's embarrassing!"

Felix felt mortified. She hadn't gone through with it because of him?

"And then- and then I tried to get you to forget! I told you I'd do some of your work! I offered to clean your apartment! A-Anything to get you to forget-"

" _That's_ what the bribery was about?" God, he had dismissed that as Sylvain and her just pulling a prank on him. He never thought she was _actually_ serious.

Annette's face flared an angry red. "It wasn't bribery!"

He gives her an unimpressed look.

"Okay, so maybe it was bribery!" She concedes. She crosses her arms and looks away from him. 

_x_

_"Why are you so mean to people?"_

_"Would a 'mean' person reject a bribe?"_

_"Ugh! I knew you were going to use that against me!"_

_"It's not everyday someone offers you their service for something so silly as to forget a song. And dance. That are still etched in my memory, by the way."_

_"...This is exactly what I'm talking about. I hate you."_

_x_

In the ensuing silence, Felix processes all the new information he had just received.

Annette didn't post a video because of him? And had actually tried to _bribe_ him to forget about it?

He doesn't know what to make of the entire situation (it seemed so surreal and Felix is relieved that no one is listening to their conversation because they'd most certainly be _laughing_ ), but one emotion does take hold of him.

Guilt.

"Hey," he says to get her attention. Annette meets his gaze shyly, an embarrassed frown in place.

(She looked so damn adorab-)

He scratches his head awkwardly. "Do you want to be in my 250,000 subscribers celebration video?"

Annette's mouth drops open, but he keeps talking.

"You didn't post because of me, it only seems fair that I give you the chance to make up for it, even if it's not on your channel," he looks away from her, face unbearably hot, I know it'll be... unusual since our content is different, but I think we can find a way. I don't have to fence in it, it could just be casual, so your singing would look more natu-"

She takes hold of his hands, prompting him to stop.

(Thank God, she had taken pity on him. He was pretty sure he sounded like an idiot just now.)

"I'd love to, Felix," Annette tells him, looking directly into his eyes. "... I think we can make it work somehow. Thank you."

The collaboration goes up within the week. 

In it, Felix demonstrates numerous fencing stances, Annette reciting their names as he went and singing a little jingle to help people remember.

It's an unexpected hit and it blows up. By the end of the week, Felix has twice the number of subs he had before.

* * *

Annette hummed to herself as she arranged the books neatly on the shelf. 

She could her Mercedes telling her off in her head, asking why she was going through all the trouble when she had simply come to borrow another book. Annette couldn't blame her, it was a very valid question.

She just couldn't help it!

Some first-year Gryffindor had come in and knocked over a pile of books on a table just as she was leaving, not even bothering to look at the mess before running off after his friends. It was a miracle they hadn't trampled over anything in their haste, Annette had thought as she had quickly made her way to the fallen books.

Shelving them only seemed logical.

She bit her lip as she leaned up, trying to return a book on a particularly high shelf. "A-Almost there," she muttered as she stretched. Gosh, why did she have to be so short?

To her complete and utter surprise, the book flies out of her hand and neatly slots itself into the space Annette had been reaching for. What in the w-

"Sometimes, I think you forget you're a witch."

Annette frowns at the familiar voice. And feels her cheeks flush, to her dismay.

She turns around to face its owner. "I could do it myself, you know."

Felix Hugo Fraldarius in all his Gryffindor glory scoffs at her. "You looked like you were going to break you back. What are you doing shelving anyway?"

Annette sticks out her tongue at him before crouching down to pick up another book she had placed on the floor to be shelved.

"Someone knocked these off the table earlier," she answers, back turned towards him as she places the book back in its place. It's on a shelf that's conveniently below her eye level so it's easy.

"So you take it upon yourself to do it instead?" He inquires as he pockets his wand.

She nods. "You know, Cyril cleans up here, right? I want to make it easier for him what with all the housekeeping he's been doing for your house lately."

Felix winces as she giggles.

The explosion in the Gryffindor common room was talked about for weeks.

"You make me doubt you're a Hufflepuff with that type of humor," he says in a mild voice. She's about to tell him to go away when he offers her a book. She's surprised to see the rest of the books she's yet to shelve resting in his hands.

"What?" Felix raises an eyebrow. "Might as well." He waves the book at her impatiently.

Annette smiles.

A lot of people still questioned why Felix was placed in Gryffindor. She's heard myriads of whispers over the years from people who had nothing better to do. Others often wondered why he wasn't in Slytherin.

But Annette had always known that he was too kind to be placed there.

She takes the book from him happily. "Thanks," she chirps. Felix grunts in acknowledgement.

They go on like that for a few more minutes. 

Felix handed her the books and Annette shelved them properly. At the rate they were going, the amount of books diminishes quickly. She hits his hand at one point nearing the end when she sees it going for his wand. 

"We're doing this manually," she declared firmly. The boy rolled his eyes, but obeyed nonetheless.

It's not that she didn't appreciate how easy magic made life, it's just that she wasn't a fan of using it for anything and everything. What were your limbs for then? If everything in life could be made easier with just a flick of a wand? She grimaces as she remembers that time she witnessed Hilda using magic to flip the pages of her textbook. 

That was excessive!

When Annette shelves the last book, her triumph is squashed by the sound of Felix heaving a sigh.

"Well, that was disappointing."

Annette eyes him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't sing at all. I was looking forward to hearing how the rest of the library song went."

_x_

_"How have you still not finished the library song?"_

_"I get busy, ok?!_ _Why does it matter so much to you anyway?"_

_"I want to know what happens next. And you have a nice voice. I've told you that before, haven't I?"_

_"..."_

_"What?"_

_"No, haven't..."_

_"Oh."_

_x_

Her face flushes.

"Sorry to disappoint you," she says indignantly. The nerve of him to expect something from her!

Felix shrugs. "We still have time."

Annette could not believe it. 

Though the prospect of being alone with Felix for an extended amount of time (greatly) appealed to her. This was embarrassing. And ridiculous.

"I'm not going to stay here just to finish a song. Besides, I've kept Mercie waiting long enough," she huffs.

"So that's the real reason," Felix says bluntly, "it's not finished. A shame."

Annette feels oddly defensive, but she lets it slide. It wasn't something to get worked up about. Especially since they're in a library.

"You'll hear it next time," she says smoothly as she moves past him.

"When is that?"

"Um... probably the next time we work together in a library? And when it's finished?"

Why was it so important to him?

"It can't be someplace else?"

Annette freezes mid-stride and she feels her heart rate pick up. Was she hallucinating?

What was he implying?

She turns back to see Felix who crosses his arms, unbothered. It would look believable if not for the tinge of pink resting on his cheeks. "Sylvain says it's about time I took you out on a proper date."

A date. Annette reels at the word.

"Y-You want to _date_ me? You want _us,_ " she gestures at the two of them. "- to date?"

God, this had better not be a joke, her hopes were insanely up now despite how shocked she still is.

"How many times do I have to say it?" He questions, a little exasperated.

Her heart leaps in joy. Oh my god, he was serious.

"I was just making sure." She shrugs innocently, confidence renewed. (He wanted them to date!) "Kind of a sucky way to confess after all," she teases.

Felix reddens. "I don't have experience in the romance department, sorry," he offers dryly.

She takes a hold of his hands.

"We can learn together."

* * *

"And that was the BLUE☆LIONS with their comeback, 'Azure Moon'! Give them a wonderful round of applause!" The announcer gestures at them enthusiastically.

The lights are blinding and Felix is, quite frankly, tired. He wants nothing more then to retreat backstage and maybe sleep for a hundred years or so. He wipes the sweat off his brows.

Nevertheless, he had to be kind. (Byleth would kill him otherwise.)

He plasters a smile on his face and waves at the crowd, their screams growing louder at the gesture. Dimitri laughs good-naturedly beside him.

"It must be nice to have the most fans, Felix!" The blond grins. Felix rolls his eyes. Why was he always paired with the boar?

"Tell that to the idiot," he says, turning to point at the other side of the stage, where Sylvain and Ashe too are waving at their fans happily. There is a collective shriek of excitement when Sylvain starts blowing kisses at the crowd. Dimitri laughs again, clearly amused.

Felix feels a migraine coming along.

When they're _finally_ let off the stage, he makes for their room, nodding past their manager. Byleth seems to see the fatigue in his expression because she simply nods back and lets Felix stalk past her.

Small blessings.

Felix himself didn't understand why he was in such a bad mood. 

He had woken up irritated with the world. Even more so when he dumbly forgot they were doing a show today. He was late to rehearsals because of stupid traffic and when he had gotten there, Ashe had accidentally spilled water on his clothes.

The crowning jewel of it all was how insanely uncomfortable his costume was. 

Who thought leather pants were a good idea?

In his haste, he bumps into someone.

"Sorry," he tells the person. And he means it. He may have been in a bad mood, but he wasn't going to be _that_ jerk. (Plus, it was bad PR and Felix really was not in the mood to have Byleth lecture him to death.)

It's a petite, orange-haired girl, decked out in a frilly white dress that stopped just above her knees. It's a cute stage cost- is that a halo over her head? Felix is intrigued.

An odd stylistic choice in his opinion, but it wasn't unheard of in the industry. He distantly recalls Ingrid wearing a far more fancier ensemble when she debuted. The dress intricately complicated with all its tiny sparkling details. Not to mention, long. He recalls his friend slipping more than a few times when she practiced. And it had _wings_ of all things. (Sylvain couldn't stop laughing about it for weeks.)

"No, I'm sorry," the girl says apologetically, bowing to him, "I wasn't watching where I was going." He's about to reject the apology when another woman comes up to grab the girl by the wrist. 

"Annie, come on, you're due on stage in a few minutes!" She turns to Felix looking regretful. "You'll have to excuse us, she needs to-"

Felix waves them off. "It's fine. Go. Good luck," he says to 'Annie.' The women look at him gratefully before running off. He can hear the other one berating the idol. 

"I told you not to run! You could have been hurt!"

"Sorry, Mercie! I freaked out when they called for me!"

Huh. Must be nice having such a comfy relationship with your manager, he thinks as he watches disappear down the hall. 

Byleth didn't scare him, no. She could just get... _intense_ sometimes. She intimidates him to this day and he shudders at the memory of what she had done to Sylvain after finding out he had gone clubbing before one of their concerts.

"I see you've met Annette and Mercedes." 

Felix nods, unfazed as Ingrid sidles up next to him. He's not surprised to see her hands filled with sandwiches. "'Met' is an overstatement. I just bumped into them." He turns to her. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Ingrid shrugs. "I wanted to watch your comeback stage. Congratulations, by the way. You all did great. Ashe looked especially cute today." 

"Sylvain would throw a fit if he heard you say that." The blonde groans at the truth of his statement.

There's a ruckus by one of the TVs installed in the hall, causing Felix and Ingrid to the one nearest to them. It showed the stage, now dimly light and a figure standing at its center. The halo tips him off to who it is. In the shadows, he can see a few back-up dancers.

'Captivating by ANNIE', the text on the screen read.

"She new?" Felix questioned, eyes glued to the TV. Ingrid nods. 

"This is her debut stage. You would do well to get to know our fellow labelmates." His eyes widen slightly. Ingrid sees the look. "Yes, Felix. She's under our company too, though I suppose I can't blame you for not knowing. You've been busy ever since the group debuted," she says thoughtfully.

On stage, the spotlight shines down on the girl's petite frame. He can hear the yells of the audience all the way from the backstage.

"Now, please welcome: ANNIE singing her debut song, 'Captivating'!" The announcer introduces her. Felix doesn't know how it's possible, but the crowd's cheers grow louder.

"She's popul-"

He trails off at the sound of her voice.

It's... beautiful. Felix was a singer, being surrounded by beautiful voices and equally beautiful singers was something he was accustomed to now.

But this was different somehow.

In the spotlight, her beauty was much more evident, highlighted by how angelic her voice sounded. (That explained the costume.) Her singing is soft and melodious. Simultaneously, the most steady yet most powerful voice Felix has ever heard. It makes him breathless and he doesn't understand why.

The choreography doesn't look hard to execute, but it's interesting enough for audiences to be enraptured by the graceful movements of her hands and the way she practically glides across the stage. But, despite dancing, her voice never wavers and he would have thought it was playback, but he sees how heavily she's breathing.

She's singing _live_. 

Felix is utterly captivated.

_x_

_"I want you to sing for me. I hear your voice when I'm asleep, or in battle... It's like...it's like I'm your captive."_

_"Felix? What are you muttering to yourself?"_

_"...Nothing."_

_"Are you sur-"_

_"Would you like to have dinner with me?"_

_"W-What? All of the sudden?"_

_"Do you want to or not?"_

_"I want to!"_

_x_

Her song ends and so does the spell he found himself in.

The audience erupts in thunderous applause, screaming and waving. Annie bows in thanks, cheeks red from exertion. She looks at the camera and winks before the screen fades to black. For some reasons, it causes his cheeks to turn pink.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He turns when Ingrid clears her throat and hates how smug she looks. "Talented, don't you think?" Her grin is mischievous. She had clearly seen how much Annie's performance had affected him.

Felix groans.

"Not a word to the others," he says. Ingrid giggles.

"My lips are sealed. But hey," she waves a sandwich encased in tissue at him. "- I was going to offer these to her and Mercedes when she was finished." Felix flushes. He knows what she's about to say next.

"Do you perhaps want to sneak something in?"

Felix is ashamed to admit that he writes his number down on a small piece of paper that day, to be snuck into Annie's sandwich and personally delivered by Ingrid. He ends up doing favors for her all week to buy the blonde's silence.

It's worth it when he eventually gets a text from the orange-haired idol.

* * *

The black cat eyes the cat food with disdain. Rodrigue groans in frustration.

"Come on, Felix. I've given you nearly every brand! You won't like it if you don't try," the man says exasperatedly.

The pet store was practically done with him at this point, always coming in and buying a different assortment of cat food every time he went. (He still had no discount though, he notes bitterly.)

From the couch, Lambert laughs at him loudly. "That's one stubborn cat, you have there," the blond says amusedly as he cracks open another beer.

Rodrigue sighs.

"Tell me about it." He took the bowl from an unimpressed Felix and proceeded to slide it over to his other cat. "Glenn's an angel compared to him. He'll eat anything."

If cats could roll their eyes, Rodrigue swears he sees Felix do so when his brother begins stuffing his face with cat food. What sort of rivalry existed between his cats, he didn't know.

The doorbell rings and while normal people usually waited for permission to enter the houses of others, Gilbert walked in anyway.

"Not cool," the raven-haired man tells him from the floor. He hears Lambert "boo" in support. 

Gilbert stares at them apologetically. "Sorry, I just had to-"

"Is that a cat?" Rodrigue eyes the animal in the other man's arms.

Gilbert nods before placing the orange ball of fur down on the floor. It instantly looks up at Gilbert and goes to sit on his shoe. He sighs.

Rodrigue sees Felix perk up and eye the newcomer with suspicion.

"I picked her up from an old box beside my dumpster," Gilbert says sheepishly, "I put her back when Seteth started looking at me weirdly from his window, but she followed me all the way here. Figured it wouldn't hurt to take her in." He bends down to scratch the cat's ears. It purrs contentedly.

"Dude," Lambert says incredulously, "I can't believe you just took a cat from the streets." Gilbert flushes.

"No collar?" Rodrigue examines the cat more closely, not caring about his friend's unusual adoption process. It was very cute and, apparently, affectionate as evidenced by its attachment to Gilbert. He can't help but wonder about who would ever think to abandon the poor thing.

The ginger-haired man shakes his head. "No, but 'Annette' was written on the box, so I'm calling her that." 

"Cute nam-"

The men startle as Felix snarls. He's suddenly in what Rodrigue dubs as his "kill" stance, body poised to maim as the cat stared Annette down.

Felix being hostile wasn't unusual, but this kind of animosity towards another cat so soon after the first encounter is weird. The man eyes the black fur ball questioningly. "Fel, don't-"

The cat hisses at him. Rodrigue is effectively shut up.

Much to everyone's surprise, Annette detaches herself from her new owner and calmly stares back. The cat looks at the other with equal intensity.

Rodrigue cannot believe his eyes.

"Your cats," Lambert whispers from the couch as he watches, "are _vibing_." Gilbert shushes him.

A beat passes. The cats continue to stare. Gilbert looks on uneasily.

Suddenly, Annette meows and proceeds to scamper off somewhere else in Rodrigue's apartment. And to his infinite amazement and shock, Felix follows.

Felix _never_ followed.

He's aware his jaw hangs open as he watches the cats disappear out of view. Gilbert looks much the same.

Lambert bursts out laughing, causing Gilbert and Rodrigue to look at him in curiosity. The blond smiles at his friends hopefully.

"If they have kittens, can I have one?"

_x_

_"I'd follow you anywhere, you know?"_

_"...Annette-"_

_"Even if you're a bully. And rude. and mean."_

_"..."_

_"It's like I'm the captive. Which is kind of fitting since we're going to war and all..."_

_"..."_

_"What?"_

_"I said I'd follow you anywhere too."_

_(In the next lifetime, and every one after that.)_

_x_

**Author's Note:**

> no doubt the fic i've had the most fun writing so far! idk if y'all noticed but the italic text was either directly taken from their supports or twisted a bit to match the context and to pace the development better. and two were completely made up by me uwu
> 
> all aus mentioned in chronological order and some notes:  
> \- canonverse  
> \- prince/princess  
> \- superheroes (felix smashed his earpiece after sylvain chose to give him shit for being such a jerk)  
> \- youtuber (sylvain's video was eventually taken down because it was a crime against women)  
> \- harry potter (y'all thought it would be the typical "let me get that for you since im taller" scheme didnt you well SURPRISE)  
> \- idols (the sandwich safely made its way to annette and she blushed about it for days before actually using it)  
> \- cats (lambert was probably stoned)
> 
> in case it wasnt clear, i had too much fun with the youtuber and idol aus,, and im a big fan of felix and ingrid's relationship ok
> 
> bye i have to write for dorolix weekend now
> 
> [my twitter!](https://twitter.com/trixstarsss)


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